Cristina García Banegas - The Beatles on the Organ of St Peter's Liverpool (2021)

Cristina Garcia Banegas currently holds the positions of Professor and Chair of Organ Studies at the University Music School of Uruguay. She is also the founder and conductor of the Ensemble Vocal e Instrumental De Profundis, and is the founder and artistic director of the International Organ Festival of Uruguay.

Ms. Banegas was a pupil of Renee Bonnet and Renee Pietrafesa in Montevideo, Uruguay, Lionel Rogg at the Conservatory in Geneva, Switzerland, where she received the Premier Prix de Virtuosité, and Marie-Claire Alain at Rueil Malmaison’s Conservatory in Paris, France, where she received the Premier Prix d’Excellence avec Félicitations du Jury.

Cristina’s intense activity as an organist has taken her to Europe, Latin America, the USA, Russia, and Japan. Her diverse recordings include J.S. Bach, and Spanish and Latin American baroque literature performed on period organs in Europe and Latin America, as well as some others as conductor of the Ensemble Vocal De Profundis in Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Bolivia, Argentina, Brasil and Uruguay. Many of these recordings have received notable recognition, as well as international awards.

Ms. Banegas has conducted many masterworks from the Baroque and Classical repertoire including Saint Matthew’s Passion; Mass in B Minor; Magnificat; Christmas Oratorio, cantatas (J.S. Bach), Vesperae della Beata Vergine (Claudio Monteverdi), Vesperae Solemnes de Confessore; Requiem and Mass in C Minor, K. 427 (W.A. Mozart), Messiah (G.F. Handel), Stabat Mater and Litany to the Virgin Mary (Karol Szymanowski), Budavari Te Deum (Zoltan Kodaly), German Requiem (Brahms, London version), etc. For the Baroque works she gathered together orchestras of period instruments. All of these performances were given extraordinary acclaim by national critics who described them as landmarks in the history of Uruguayan music.

In 2007 Cristina received three distinctions: "Woman of the Year Prize" in the National Artistic Contest; the "ALAS" ("Wings") Prize for Artists and the Foundation Bank Itaú First Choir's Reward. In addition she has released four new CD’s ~ two from the Bach Opera Omnia project at St. Mary’s Church in Gedinne and at the Hofkirche in Dresden. The third recording is dedicated to colonial organ music in Latin America, a live concert recording made at the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. The fourth, an Italian edition, is a compendium with four outstanding international organists giving premieres of contemporary organ compositions.